31 Ways To Save More Money Before You Retire

As it's been said countless times, even the smallest savings can have a significant impact over an extended period of time. Whether it's putting aside a dollar a day and investing that $30 once a month or cutting costs throughout your budget, the little efforts will pay off.

With the correct investing techniques, you can substantially boost your retirement savings without making drastic changes. For example, consider simple alternatives you can make throughout the day that seem small, but when spread over the course of a year add up quickly; likewise, consider the benefits of taking the little money changes and making it work for you by investing it as an additional deposit into a retirement fund or other savings vehicle with a higher return.

Below are 31 quick alternatives that may not seem like huge savings, but end up adding a significant amount to your piggy bank, especially when used together and/or combined with other savings techniques.

Around The Home

1. Brew Your Own
Make coffee at home vs. buying coffee house or even gas station coffee. One cup of brewed coffee comes in around $0.17, while a coffee shop cup comes in at an average of $1.56. By exchanging one for the other just 5 days a week, you are looking at an annual savings of over $340.

Related Link: 5 Tips To Lower Utility Bills

2. Stop The Newspaper
Cut out physical newspaper subscriptions. By reading the news online or catching up via public radio, you can eliminate the average daily cost of $1.50 for a newspaper. Average annual savings = $367.50.

3. Turn It Down; Turn It Up
Adjust your thermostat by two degrees above your average in the summer and two degrees below your average in the winter; additional savings can be found if you adjust the thermostat to reflect when you are at home. The Department of Energy calculated, "By turning your thermostat back 10 degrees to fifteen degrees for eight hours, you can save 5 percent to 15 percent per year on your heating bill – a savings of as much as 1 percent for each degree if the setback period is eight hours long."

4. Chop Chop
Slice your own fresh produce. Prepackaged salads and carrot sticks are priced an average of 80 percent more than their whole counterparts.

5. Consider Buying In Bulk
Make sure to do your research ahead of time, though; some bulk offerings are not cost effective, and if you end up purchasing more than you will use before the expiration dates, you essentially throw away that money.

6. Go Generic
Try off brands or store brands; Kroger macaroni and cheese may not taste identical to Kraft, but your family may enjoy the taste even more. Cheaper is not always lower quality. Look at the labels and try alternatives.

7. Don't Waste Groceries
Make a shopping list, stick to the shopping list and use the items before they go bad. Rodale's Organic Life reported, "Forty percent of the food produced in the United States goes into landfills instead of our mouths, according to a report from Natural Resources Defense Council."

8. Cut Your Dryer-Vent Hose
Shorter hoses will make your dryer work more efficiently, saving energy and money. Just by trimming the hose, you can save $25 a year.

9. Take A Warm Shower
Turn down the water heater's thermostat. Just by dialing back the temperature from 140 degrees to 120, you can save about $30 a year.

10. Keep Up With AC Maintenance
By cleaning/replacing air ducts' filters, you can increase your energy efficiency and save up to $40 a year.

11. Change Your Air Filters
Don't forget the air filters in your vehicles. Savings can come in at $100 per 10,000 miles driven, where a new air filter costs just $10 and a few minutes of your time.

12. Switch Light Bulbs
Change out your light bulbs with more energy efficient models. By just replacing one 60-watt bulb with an LED or other energy-saving bulb, you save an average of $0.66 per month -- just from that one bulb.

13. Cold Wash
Save more on your energy bills by washing your clothes in tepid or cold water.

All Day, Every Day

14. No More Bottled Water
Nix the bottled water for a water filter. For example, the annual cost of a Brita pitcher and replacement filters comes in at $89.64, while bulk bottled water from the grocery store (not vending machine prices) comes in at $1,034.20 per year.

15. Unplug
Turn off lights, unplug electronics and adjust the thermostat when you aren't home.

16. Stop The Smokes
Cut back on the tobacco. Just by cutting out one pack a month, you can save $60 a year.

17. Find A Penny, Pick It Up
Pick up loose change. It may only be a few dimes a week, but that's "free money" you didn't have before.

18. Check Your Tires
Keep your tires inflated. By just making sure your tires are filled up, you can save hundreds in gas. With the average level of five to 10 PSI below the recommended inflation, you can increase your mileage by around 5 percent simply by keeping your tires inflated.

19. DIY
DIY instead of hiring out contractors for simple repairs and redecorating. Repainting a bedroom will cost you significantly less than hiring someone else to do it. Likewise, simple plumbing repairs and lawn care can easily be done without additional costs with just a bit of time and basic repair knowledge.

At Work

20. Brown Bag It
Pack your meals. Considering the average meal out costs $10 and the same ingredients can be purchased and put together for a little over a fifth of the cost, you are looking at saving over $1,700 just by replacing one meal out with one packed meal, five times a week. Just imagine the impact of packing both a breakfast and a lunch!

21. Don't Use The Vending Machine
Cut out the vending machine beverages. Consider the cost difference of bringing your own can of coke or drinking water throughout the day.

Out On The Town, Entertainment

22. Ditch The Club Costs
Ditch the gym membership and work out at home or at a local park. Working out for free can save an annual average of between $450 and $660 when compared to monthly gym memberships of around $55.

23. Drink Water, Reduce Alcohol And Soda Costs
When dining out, drink water instead of ordering a soda with costly refills or overpriced alcoholic drinks. Even just cutting out one drink a week, with the average restaurant beer costing $4.50, you can put an additional $234 dollars into a growth fund.

24. Cut Coupons
Even with very conservative coupon cutting or using apps such as Ibotta or Target's Cartwheel, you can see significant savings over time. By just saving $2 a week grocery shopping, you can put aside an extra $100 every year.

25. Downgrade The Cell Plan
Look at your usage and data options. Consider the benefits of prepaid cell phones or limited data plans.

26. Consolidate Household Cell Plans
Family plans can save upward of a hundred dollars a month depending on the number of family members and the data plans; ask your carrier about options.

27. Keep The Cars In Check
Keep up with car maintenance. Keep your tires in check and your oil changed to save on costly, emergency expenses.

28. Be Loyal
Take advantage of store loyalty programs. It may only be a savings of 5 percent or so, but over the course of the year, five percent on groceries can add hundreds to your savings.

Related Link: Can Unplugging Make A Difference?

29.Go To The Library
Stop buying dvds or using Redbox and check out movies and games from the library for free.

30. Shop During Sales
Holiday shop for the year ahead, when the current year's stock are on significant discount.

31. Shop All Year Long
Shop for gifts throughout the year and keep an inventory. You won't be stuck in a tight situation and impulse buy on an expensive item because of time restraints.

Penny pinching can have a significant payoff. Particularly when the strategy is executed in conjunction with other smart savings techniques. By just saving a few cents every day and putting that aside for retirement, you can see your funds multiply with little effort.

Think thrifty and see how little changes can add up to lots of loose change. Small actions can have massive rewards when invested wisely. Ask your financial planner for additional tips and advice on how to make small savings add up in big ways.

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